


On the Bleeding Edge of History

by Darling_of_Rivia



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Bubbline, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mild Language, Monster Hunters, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22482211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darling_of_Rivia/pseuds/Darling_of_Rivia
Summary: Bonnibel Bubblegum is a science student researching supernatural phenomena—a career path her peers find absolutely bonkers. After all, junk like ghosts and demons and vampires aren’t real, as everyone keeps pointing out. Bonnibel knows better, though. And she’s determined to prove it.Enter Finn and Jake—a young demon hunter and his half-alien brother—and Bonnie is swept into a world of strange creatures and curses, of talking dogs and red-eating vampires and something called ‘magic.’ Because far below the sleepy city of Ooo, an ancient evil is stirring. Monsters leak through the cracks in the multiverse. The faint, reddish tinge of iron lingers in the air. Even the humans can smell the blood on the wind.All Bonnie has ever wanted was to prove that the supernatural exists. Now, it is her job to protect that knowledge at all costs.And maybe help save her world in the process.* * *“I always thought vampires were supposed to be evil.”“Funny world we live in, isn’t it?”
Relationships: Death/Peppermint Butler, Jake the Dog/Lady Rainicorn, Princess Bubblegum/Marceline
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	On the Bleeding Edge of History

It all happened so fast. 

“You’re evicting me?”

Bonnibel Bubblegum stared down at the piece of paper spelling out her upcoming homelessness, hardly able to process what she was seeing.

“I’m sorry Bubbs,” her longtime roommate, Kevin, answered mildly, picking at his nails. “You know I would do anything for you, but you’ve really been cramping my style with the ladies.”

“I’ve been—?” she sputtered, still trying to come to terms with the situation. She looked up. “ _What_ ladies?”

“You’re up at all hours of the night,” Kevin continued, counting each offense on his fingers. “You’ve made my apartment smell like mondo levels of toilet funk with all of your weird experiments, you don’t even make me breakfast anymore—” He shrugged, shooting her that signature Kevin Smirk. “I just don’t see a future for us Bubbs.”

“Hold on, woah.” Bonnie slapped the eviction notice down on the kitchen table where the two of them had been having what she’d thought was a semi-pleasant post-dinner conversation before he’d hit her with _this_ biz. “Kevin, you can’t evict me. You don’t even own this property.”

“I’m the King of this apartment,” Kevin said, brushing his too-shiny blond hair over his shoulder. “I can do as I please.” His smirk widened. “Plus, we both know I’ve been paying more than my share of the rent.”

“I already told you, I can pay you back as _soon_ as I get—”

The front door opened with a bang, and Bonnie jumped out of her seat, ready to fight whatever intruder had entered their apartment. She relaxed—but only slightly—when she saw that it was just Kevin’s slimy friend, Toronto. Kevin stood slowly, stretching.

“Hey Toronto,” she started, “we’re kind of in the middle of...” She trailed off when she noticed a single cardboard box under Toronto’s arm, and the suitcase he was dragging behind him. Without a word to either of them, he went into Bonnie’s room and closed the door.

“Toronto is taking your old room,” Kevin said, as if his weird friend hadn’t already done just that. “You can get the rest of your stuff tomorrow. Sound good, princess?”

“I told you to stop calling me that,” Bonnie growled. “And no. This is _absolutely_ unacceptable. You haven’t given me any time to prepare!”

“You’re smart, princess,” Kevin cooed, pushing Bonnie toward the front door. “I’m sure you’ll figure something out.”

“But—wait, I—!”

And the door was slammed in her face.

* * *

“So that’s what happened?”

“That’s what happened.”

Bonnie’s best and oldest friend, Butler, flicked a strand of red hair away from his eyes. The frown he had been wearing for the past ten minutes deepened. “That guy sounds like a mega dillweed,” he said. “He really called himself ‘the King’?”

Bonnie laid her head on Butler’s dining room table and groaned. “Yeah. He started doing that right after I moved in. Apparently he liked it so much he convinced himself he's actually in charge.” She stared at the table in a blurry-eyed sort of way. “He didn’t even give me time to grab my stuff. Literally _all_ of my stuff. Toronto’s probably in my room janking up all my experiments.”

Butler wrinkled his nose. “Honestly Bonnie, you’re better off finding somewhere else to live.”

She huffed out a sigh. “Yeah, I know. But it’s going to be hard to find a decent place halfway through the semester.”

Butler placed an awkward yet reassuring hand on her head. “You’re my best and oldest friend,” he said. “You can stay here as long as you need.”

“Thanks,” she sighed. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“Actually I prefer peppermints.”

A third voice cut into what would have been the awkward silence after Butler’s confusing attempt at a joke: “Yo Bonnibel, what’s the haps, B?”

Bonnie lifted her head to see a tall, white-clad figure rummaging through the kitchen cabinets as if he’d been there all along--Butler's boyfriend. She wiped at her eyes, embarrassed.

“Hey, D. I didn’t hear you come in.”

In fact, she never heard him come in. She’d never heard a door opening or closing behind him at all. It was uncanny, to say the least. He always seemed to just appear in the apartment without warning.

Big D didn’t answer. He pulled a bag of nuts from the cabinet and shut the door, joining the two of them at the table. He locked eyes with Butler, but addressed her. “What’s got you so down, Bonnibel?”

“Her asshole roommate kicked her out,” Butler answered for her, breaking eye contact with his boyfriend to grab a handful of nuts. “She’s going to stay here for a while.”

Big D’s attention landed on Bonnie, and she tried to stay relaxed under its weight. She met his eyes, almost defiantly.

By normal standards, the guy should have seemed wimpy. His eyes were a little too dark, his skin a little too pale, his build a little too thin. Even his white-blond hair hung limp and dry underneath that tacky white hat he always wore. But there was something unsettling about him. Something that might have been a little creepy, if he'd had any more of whatever quality it was that made him that way.

And his eyes. Something about the way he looked at her—it was heavy. Meeting his inky black gaze was always a bit of a challenge. She knew it sounded bananas, but it was almost like time froze whenever he looked at her. Just for a moment.

Probably some sort of illusion brought on by discomfort. That was the explanation she’d always gone with, but…

“Sounds good to me,” he said.

Bonnie held back a sigh of relief when he turned to look back at Butler, who was frowning again.

“A self-described ‘King’ will always meet an end befitting one,” Big D said casually, and Bonnie shivered. Overdramatic, as always. But there was something—some quality in his voice… Come to think of it, had he even been in the room when she'd told Butler about Kevin's nickname?

Butler stood up quickly, slamming his hands down on the table with a loud _smack_. “Haha, okay, let’s get you something to sleep in, eh Bonnie?” he said, plastering a good-natured smile on his face. He looked down at his boyfriend. “And stop being so creepy, hey?” He smacked him hard in the back, but Big D only chuckled.

“I think it will take more than my so-called ‘theatrics’ to scare our guest, don't you agree?" Big D was grinning at Butler as if he might be thinking of various ways to devour him. "I’m not so scary, am I Peppin?”

Butler went red in the face. "Please don't call me that."

"Call you what?" Big D bit his bottom lip, eyes flashing in a way Bonnie assumed was supposed to be flirtatious. "Your name?" 

“Ugh guys, get a room,” she muttered, goosebumps sprouting on her skin. 

Butler’s fake smile became a real glare, and he stepped away from his boyfriend to lead Bonnie into the bathroom. “Ignore him, Bons. He’s nuts.”

Butler left her in the bathroom, proclaiming “there should be an extra toothbrush in that drawer” before grabbing an oversized t-shirt and a pair of basketball shorts for her to wear to sleep for the night. The shirt was striped red and white, like peppermint candy.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, there was a clean blanket and a pillow spread out on the couch. Big D was reclining on one of the kitchen chairs, leaning back precariously on two legs.

“I made your bed, Bonnibel,” he said, attention firmly fixed on the ice cream he was eating.

“How sweet of you,” Butler said dryly before crossing the room to snatch the ice cream out of Big D’s hands. “This ice cream is for movie night, D. How many times do I have to tell you?”

Slowly, deliberately, D brought the spoon—still loaded with ice cream—to his mouth. In his eyes: a challenge.

Butler’s nostrils flared.

Bonnie sat down on the couch.

“I’m being the better person and walking away from the situation,” Butler said haughtily. Even from where she was sitting, Bonnie could see the slight red of his cheeks as he shoved the ice cream back into the freezer.

Big D cocked his head to the side, following Butler’s every move with his eyes. “Are you really the better person if you have to declare it?”

“Yes. Of course I am.” There was no hesitation in his voice—none, much to Big D’s apparent amusement. “Now if you would be so _kind_ , Bonnie’s had a rough day of it, and I think she deserves some rest.”

Bonnie raised her hands to protest, but Butler was already giving her a warning look. She lowered her arms, resisting the urge to laugh. He shot one last glare at his boyfriend before stalking off into his bedroom.

“Everything will be okay, Bonnibel,” Big D promised, rising from the chair. He brought the ice cream spoon to his mouth, attention trained on Butler’s bedroom door. That was funny—she hadn’t seen him go back for the ice cream. “Destiny is a funny thing. It always leads us where we need to go, regardless of whether or not we wish to go there. And before you know it, you'll be where you are." 

He offered a small smile in her direction—keeping his eyes decidedly off of hers—before slipping into Butler’s room.

“Damn it, D,” Bonnie heard, sound muffled slightly from the closed door. “What did I say about the ice cream!?”

This time, Bonnie couldn’t hold back a laugh.

What a weird, intimate relationship the two of them had.

As Bonnie nestled down into her borrowed couch-bed, she wondered if _she_ would ever find a love like that.

She almost laughed aloud at the mere thought.

Her? And a love like that? She seriously doubted it.

Her research was much more important, anyway.

* * *

Somewhere on the other side of town, Marceline Abadeer unfolded a map.

The night was a dark one, but the streets were illuminated by the soft pink streetlamps of Ooo's Suss suburb, lovingly nicknamed the "Candy" suburb by its overly-eccentric citizens. Everything in this part of town was either painted bright, candy-like colors or else made to straight up look like candy. From the trees made to look like cotton candy to the benches that resembled graham crackers, all the way down to the pebbles that were painted to look like rock candy. 

It made Marceline feel a little sick. 

In front of her stretched a long, dark alleyway that was practically steaming with shadows. Even the soft pink glow--normally so calming and serene--did nothing to help with the creep factor.

“Yeah, mhmm,” she said, carefully comparing her map of the city to the scene in front of her. “This is mad bonkers you guys.” She turned to one of her two companions, a teenage human with lustrous blond hair and a green backpack. His white hood was pulled over his head, as usual, and he had a wary look about him, as if any small noise could have sent him spiraling into a small amount of madness. “This entire section of street isn’t supposed to be here.”

“Mark it up, Marcy,” Finn said, nodding at the map. She complied, using a thick black marker to carefully circle the spot where this alley-that-wasn’t-supposed-to-be-there began on the map.

“This demonic energy is off the charts,” her second companion barked, “like banana muffins bro like seriously worse than the others.” She turned her head to look at the demon-meter Jake held in his paw, which he had stretched into something resembling a human hand specifically for this mission.

He wasn’t lying. His machine was whirring and clicking, displaying the max amount of demon power it was able, which definitely meant this place was chalk full of the stuff.

“Okay,” she said, smoothing her black hair away from her face. “We’re okay, we’ll figure this out. Nothing has come out of these, uh, new additions. Right?”

Finn nodded thoughtfully, reaching a hand forward into the shadows. His hand practically disappeared into the darkness, as if all the light falling on it had been snuffed out at once. “Just this weird smokey shadow biz so far. And it seems pretty much contained to this area.”

Jake nodded, grunting in assent. “Yeah, we’d have heard by now if there were monsters loose.”

Marceline looked back into the alley. Compared to the other cracks in reality they had found so far, this one was _huge_. An entire shadow street, unlike the small fissures in sidewalks and between buildings they’d been monitoring up until then.

”Do you think we should—I dunno—seal it off or something?” she said, rubbing her arms nervously.

Since becoming a vampire, she no longer had the ability to feel the cold. But there was something about this place that made her _almost_ feel the sensation again, and she was _not_ here for it.

“If we did that, they’d know we’re on to ‘em.” Jake said, but his voice betrayed his unease. “Then again, if something comes out of this crack…”

“The humans are done-zo,” Marceline finished, nodding. “You’re right. So we just—what? Leave it here?”

Jake took one last look into the alley before visibly shuddering and backing up several steps. “I mean why not? Only idiots would even come close to this place.”

“Ha. Have you ever _met_ a human?” she asked.

“Thanks,” Finn deadpanned.

“Oh, no. Not you, Finn! You’re cool.” She waved her hands. “You’re like—an honorary vampire. Er, an honorary, uh—”

“Construction tape,” Finn declared, ignoring Marceline’s awkward attempts at backtracking. “For now. I think it’s the best we can do.”

“Seconded,” Jake agreed.

“And after that…?” Finn looked to Marceline. 

She flinched.

She knew the question was coming, and yet she hadn’t wanted to be the one to answer it. But an image of a pink-haired scientist with a certain specialization popped into her head almost against her will, and she took a deep breath.

“Yeah, I have an idea.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, thanks for reading! | (• ◡•)| (❍ᴥ❍ʋ)


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